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AND R.T. Reynolds. 1997. Northern Goshawk (4c- Received 2 December 2002; accepted 25 August 2003
J RaptorRes. 37(4):340-342
© 2003 The Raptor Research Foundation, Inc.
A Helper at the Nest of Peregrine Falcons in Northern Japan
Takashi Kurosawa and Reiko Kurosawa^
3-1-6 Kojiniacho, Chofu, Tokyo 182-0026Japan
Key Words: Peregrine Falcon; Falco peregrinusjaponen- StudyArea and Methods
sis; feeding, helper, juvenile; territory. We recorded observations on the behavior and the
breeding status of Peregrine Falcons for about 120 hr
Peregrine Falcons {Falco peregrinus) are widely distrib- each year from 1993-2002 at a study site on the Etomo
Peninsula in Muroran Hokkaido, northern Japan
uted throughout the world, and primarily breed in mo-
(42°19'N, 140“59'E). Six pairs of non-migratory Pere-
nogamous pairs that display aggressive territorial behav- grines (pairs B to G) occur on a 10-km stretch ofvertical
ior around their nest sites (Cade 1982). Despite cliffs, part ofwhich is more than 100 m in height, along
numerous studies of this species in Europe, North Amer- the narrow Etomo Peninsula (1.0-3.5 km in width; Ku-
ica, and elsewhere (e.g.. Cade et al. 1988), information magai 1989, Ueta et al. 1995). The six sites fledged 1.1
on the ecology of Peregrine Falcons {F. p. japonemis) in young (±1.1 SD) per pair per year from 1993-2002. This
East Asia is very limited. Cooperative breeding is infre- peninsula is also a major landfall and point ofdeparture
for migrating songbirds and raptors, and in 1998 the
quent in this species (Skutch 1987) with reported excep-
banding station on the peninsula recorded 57 species of
tions in North America and in France (Spofford 1969, small- to medium-sized land birds (T. Banno pers.
Monneret 1983). Here, we describe an observation of comm.), which are suitable prey for Peregrines inJapan
helping at the nest of a Peregrine Falcon in Hokkaido, (Yamada 2002).
northern Japan. We used 20X binoculars and a 77x spotting scope to
make observations. Because no peregrines inJapan have
been marked, we attempted to identify individual birds
by their characteristic features such as malar patches, ven-
’ Corresponding author’s e-mail address: rkurosawa® tral marks (Enderson and Craig 1988), favorite look-out
nifty.com perches and behavior toward the observers.
—
December 2003 Short Communications 341
Results and Discussion Recent reviews on cooperative breeding suggest that
The territorial pairs in the study area usually showed both ecological constraints and life history traits such as
aggression toward intruding peregrines that flew <5 m low adult mortality and low dispersal rate are important
above, or close to (<100 m) the nesting cliffs. On 17 factors in the evolution of cooperative breeding (Arnold
March 2001, however, we observed a Peregrine with ver- and Owens 1999, Hatchwell and Komdeur 2000). Pere-
tically striped breast and belly perched on a crossarm of grines nest on cliffs over much of their range, which re-
a power pylon about 3 m from an adult male in the ter- stricts their breeding distribution (Newton 1988). They
ritory of the “F” pair. The former was obviously larger are relatively long-living with low adult mortality (Rat-
than the adult male. The adult male showed no sign of cliffe 1993). Also this species is known to be philopatric
aggression toward this juvenile. About 5 min later, the (Newton and Mearns 1988). Therefore, Peregrine Fal-
juvenile peregrine departed to chase a feral rock dove cons in Muroran Hokkaido may provide an interesting
{Columba livid), but came back without the prey and example of an early stage in the evolution of a coopera-
probably perched out ofsight on the cliff, ca. 100 m from tive breeding system. This sporadically-expressed behav-
the male. An adult pair had been seen together on the ior should be monitored and documented in other per-
wing at this site two days earlier, on 15 March. Moreover, egrine studies and observers should look for factors that
later on 17 March we observed a copulation between the correlate with and may foster this breeding system.
adult pair on the nesting cliff.
On 24 May 2001, a peregrine with juvenile plumage Resumen. Lo halcones peregrinos {Falco peregrinus)
carried a small prey item into the nest of the same pair. usualmente procrean en parejas monogamas que des-
There were three nestlings with white down in the nest; pliegan un comportamiento territorial agresivo alrede-
they appeared to be about 2-wk old. Thejuvenile fed the dor de sus sitios nido. A pesar de su territorialidad y agre-
nestlings for about 10 min and then flew around the sion hacia los intrusos, una hembrajuvenil fue observada
point to the other side of the cliff. During this feeding en el territorio de una pareja adulta durante la estacion
bout, the adult pair were out of sight and neither called reproductiva en un sitio de anidacion del halcon pere-
or came to chase away the juvenile. The territorial adult grino (K japonensis) en Muroran, Hokkaido, norte del
p.
female glided by the nesting cliff about 20 min after this Japon. Esta trajo comida y alimento a los polluelos de la
feeding. The clutch of three young fledged successfully pareja que estaba anidando sin que fuera expulsada. Adi-
in midjune, when thisjuvenile helper was no longer ob- cionalmente a este individuo, otros juveniles fueron to-
served at this site. lerados en sus territorios natales largo tiempo despues
Peregrine Falcons have a broad range of post-nesting de la estacion reproductiva, lo cual puede ocasionalmen-
dependency periods, and particularly, non-migratory te conducir a que cooperen en el nido, en la region de
populations of falcons are reported to have prolonged Hokkaido, Esta especie en el norte del Japon puede ser
juvenile-dependency periods (Sherrod 1983). In our un ejemplo interesante de un temprano estado en la evo-
study area, some juvenile peregrines were observed to lucion de la reproduccion cooperativa en rapaces.
stay in the natal territories long after the breeding sea- [Traduccion de Cesar Marquez]
son; five cases recorded in October (ca. 4 mo after fledg-
ing), one in December, and two in March. We assumed Acknowledgments
that these juveniles were the offspring of the territory We would like to thank the Ministry of the Environ-
owners for several reasons. First, they provoked no ag- ment for supporting our study. We would also like to ex-
gression from the territorial pairs. Secondly, no tolerated press our appreciation to S. Honda, President of Muro-
juveniles were observed in the territories ofthe pairs that ran Chapter of the Wild Bird Society ofJapan, and T
failed to raise broods that year or the previous year. Banno for information on birds migrating through the
Similar to our observations, Monneret (1983) reported study area. Special thanks goes to M. Kumagai, wildlife
the helping behavior of juvenile peregrines at nests of photographer, for providing ecological information on
adult pairs in the 1970s and 1980s. He suggested that the peregrines of the Etomo Peninsula. We are very
juveniles were tolerated in their natal territories well into grateful toJ. Pagel, R.W. Nelson, C. White,J.C. Bednarz,
the breeding season, through the period when eggs and and R.A. Askins for their helpful comments and sugges-
tions on earlier drafts of this manuscript.
nestlings were present. The appearance of chicks prob-
ably triggered brooding or feeding behavior by the ju-
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helping behavior to occur, because the parents would tol- 471.
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territory. Delayed dispersal is a common route to the evo- Press, Ithaca, NYU.S.A.
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Kumagai, M. 1989. “Etomo hanto ni ikiru Hayabusa ta- Ueta, M., R. Kurosawa, and T. Kurosawa. 1995. The
chi” (Peregrines on the Etomo Peninsula). Anima home ranges of Peregrine Falcons in the Etomo Pen-
196:59-64. insula, Hokkaido. Pages 83-89 in “Kisho yasei dous-
Monneret, R-J- 1983. L’aide a I’elevage chez le Faucon hokubutushu seisokujokyo chosa hokokusho” (Re-
pelerin. Alauda 4:241—250. ports on the status of rare wildlife: Steller’s Sea Eagle,
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Newton, I. 1988. Commentary population regulation Coshawk, and Peregrine Falcon). The Environment
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Cade,J.H. Enderson, C.C. Thelander, and C.M. White Yamada, I. 2002. Status of Peregrine Falcons Falcoperegri-
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Newton, I. and R. Mearns. 1988. Population ecology of Received 7 January 2003; accepted 17 August 2003
J RaptorRes. 37(4):342-344
© 2003 The Raptor Research Foundation, Inc.
Two Cases of Cooperative Breeding in Eurasian Hobbies
Inigo Zuberogoitia
Lab. Zoologia, Dpto Zoologia YDindmica CelularAnimal, Universidad Del Pais Vasco, APDO 644,
48080 Bilbao, Spain
Jose Antonio Martinez
Juan de la Cierva 43, E-03560El Campello, Alicante, Spain
Ainara Azkona, Agurtzane Iraeta, Inaki Castillo, Raul Alonso, and Sonia Hidalgo
Sociedad para el Estudio de las Aves Rapaces, C/ Karl Marx 15, 4°E, 48950 Erandio, Bizkaia, Spain
Key Words: Eurasian Hobby, Falco subbuteo; cooperative breeding with two or more males). A recent review of
behavior, polyandry; polygamy. literature shows that group breeding has been docu-
mented in 42 species of diurnal raptors (Kimball et al.
Polygamy is a common mating system in birds (Alcock 2003). Furthermore, these authors suggest that cooper-
1993), and it can involve either polygyny (a male breed- ative breeding is more common in terms of the number
ing with two or more females) or polyandry (a female of species and in frequency than the available data indi-
cate. In addition, they reported that 21 species ofraptors
showed polyandrous behavior and four other species may
^ E-mail address: [email protected] be polyandrous.
